Hubballi girl’s father raps CM for saying murder was ‘personal issue’

Hubballi/Belagavi/Tumakuru/Bengaluru: Niranjanayya Hiremath, father of Neha (23), who was murdered at BVB Campus in Hubballi on Thursday by her former classmate Fayaz Khondunayak, hit back at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for attributing “personal reasons” to the murder.

Rejecting the BJP’s charge that law and order had deteriorated in the state under the Congress government, Siddaramaiah said in Bengaluru, “Maintaining law and order is the government’s duty, which we are doing.” Siddaramaiah said that Neha was murdered “due to a personal reason”.  Home Minister G Parameshwara also echoed the CM’s view and denied that the murder was a case of “love jihad”. 

“The CM, with his statement, is tarnishing my family’s reputation,” Hiremath said. He urged the CM to be sensitive while making statements at a time when his family is going through emotional turmoil.

Amid widespread protests against the murder and calls for stringent punishment against the suspect, Hiremath, who is a Congress corporator at Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, told reporters in Hubballi that his daughter was not in any “relationship” with Khondunayak and claimed that it was a planned murder. 

He asked the state government to order a “police encounter” against Khondunayak. “This is the only way justice  can be ensured for my deceased daughter,” he said and claimed that more people were involved in the crime and they should be brought to justice. Hiremath believed that his daughter was murdered because she refused to yield to the suspect’s advances.

Parameshwara told reporters in Tumakuru on Friday that according to information, the girl and the suspect were in love and that Khondunayak killed her when Neha began to avoid him. “There is no love jihad in this murder. Legal action will be taken against the suspect,” he said.

Parameshwara said that the BJP blames the Congress whenever such incidents occur. He said it was not proper to politicise all issues during elections.